Below is a paper that Daniel #1 has been working on. Please feel free to comment, add suggestions, add content, provide feedback. Help us make it what is better for you and for everyone. Perhaps when we get it really good we can have it published. You are what will make the Supportive Economy come to life. So you should have the most say. We have just started it off. Also coming soon will be a new website to promote the supportive economy.
So what is the “Supportive Economy”?

You probably have heard a lot in the news and online about the so-called “Sharing Economy”. It has been popularized to describe huge businesses such as the ride-hailing application Uber, or the rental application Airbnb, as well as many others. But the reality is that most of the so-called sharing economy businesses, are far from the traditional definition of sharing that most people think. They are really about taking, taking your money and providing a service. In the case of a company like Uber, they take most of the money and pay the drivers very little. According to most definitions, Webster’s being one, “Share usually implies that one as the original holder grants to another the partial use, enjoyment, or possession of a thing (I shared my toys with the other boys, I shared my tools with my neighbour)”. Usually the process of “Sharing” does not imply that the person doing the sharing is getting some financial gain. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with making a living by renting or paying for a service, just that to call it a sharing economy really does not meet the spirit of what sharing is about. What we propose is to expand on this concept of the sharing economy in a term which includes it, but expands on the spirit of supporting oneself and supporting others. We call it the “Supportive Economy”.

So what is this new Supportive Economy? Well in essence it is what the name implies: support. We support both ourselves and others in many ways. We work and generate income for things that we want or need, and we generate income for things that others need. We support our families, our communities, our country and the global community at large. The Supportive economy is one which not only benefits ourselves, but the society and world in which we live. It involves many features. It is not just a taking economy, and there are many ways that we support ourselves and others. We promote providing for our needs and the needs of others. We don’t focus on maximum accumulation of wealth, but a supportive distribution of wealth. It can envision a universal wage, no matter what the person’s contributions. Now there are many people that think this is a bad economic model of universal wage regardless of potential to generate it, however, the people with lots of wealth arguing against it are hiding the benefits to a society’s Gross domestic output, under the guise of not wanting to part with more of their wealth. Think of this for example, people who are extremely wealthy do not spend the bulk of their wealth locally. They spend it overseas, they invest it overseas, and they put it into places where gov’ts can’t tax it. Conversely, even if we guaranteed a person a minimum yearly income of say $30,000 regardless of their production, that person will spend almost all, if not all, locally in the economy. They will spend it at the grocery store, at the local gas station, on rent or housing, on items in stores, at local events. More than any other plan to cut taxes and do gov’t spending, this one supportive economy initiative could greatly increase a society’s overall wealth generated. If it was implemented in North America, it could insure that the vast wealth stayed locally in America.

It should be noted that the so-called “Golden-era” of the 1950’s and 1960’s in America had an income tax for the wealthiest at around 91%!! Yes that is 91% - ninety-one percent. Yeah I know that sounds extreme, but this was perfectly acceptable to everyone. Yes they did not have as much estate taxes and capital gains taxes, but one could argue that they need to have both a high tax rate and high capital taxes. Then came along came some wealthy people with a false idea that they spread to all of America – the so-called “Trickle-down effect”. That is the notion that you let the wealthy keep all their money and some of it will pass down to the middle-class and the poor. But we all know that this is rarely the case. The amount of multi-billionaires in America has grown to several thousand in just the last 30 years. More and more wealth is being held by a few and not being redistributed to all of America. They also try to instill, the “what’s mine, is mine” attitude, that you are un-American for suggesting redistribution from the wealthy to the rest of America. This is a totally bogus idea. It was perfectly “American as apple pie” to impose 91% taxes on the rich for 30 years after the second world war, a time where there were “communists” hiding under your bed, to somehow – Un-American and anti-capitalist now? Sorry it is just propaganda of the rich and the politicians that serve them. Also remember most politicians that make the laws are rich. They also keep Americans supporting the system by making most people believe that if they play along, they have a chance to be super rich as well. But in reality the odds of getting into the 1 percent are very remote. Most changes would affect a very small percentage of Americans. More than 95% would see gains, while 5% would lose some of their wealth. Plus, would someone really be hard done by ONLY making say $10, $20, $30 million per year net? Some people are making billions each year!!

But the Supportive Economy is so much more. Even without big governmental level changes to income tax, there are organizations sprouting up to address the issues of supporting ourselves and our community. We don’t even need to depend on the government making changes, we can make the changes ourselves to how we engage with each other. One of these is “VillageCity”. The goal of this platform is to allow people a space where they can come out and support themselves and support others. People can come to the site and trade things they have for things they need. They can offer their skills and services they have for skills and services that they need. They can offer emotional support to others on the platform. They can create events to support their local community. There is even the possibility to expand to ride-sharing, and housing support. The possibilities are only limited by the ability to think them up. While generating some income support may be the goal of many individuals on the platform, many others will be there just to provide support to others without expecting anything in return. Gifting and volunteerism would become the norm as opposed to the exception. People encourage each other to be environmentally aware, as they keep items in circulation and out of the landfill. As the movement develops, there is the potential for people to meet all of their needs on the platform. Not only are they supporting others, but they are also supporting themselves.

So where do we go from here with the Supportive Economy? The answer to this question will take time to fully develop, but the early adopters will be at the beginning of a new revolution of engagement. VillageCity.ca and the Facebook group they created, call people “villagers”. Villagers usually know and support one another. Villages then got together and formed cities. Cities support many villages. It all can come back around in a circle of support.

We encourage you to come out to be part of developing this new “Supportive Economy”. Visit the website www.villagecity.net or check out the Facebook group “VillageCity”, follow us on Twitter @villagecityinfo

Thanks from Daniel, Daniel, and Ben! Remember we are human too, and as such we make mistakes. Please let us know if we need to adjust anything. Being open to learn and change is an integral part of this new supportive economy! Suggestions can be made Here.